


A Shadow From The Past

by Latsin



Category: Martin Mystère | Martin Mystery
Genre: Blood, Gen, Team Bonding, Why is this fandom abandoned?, character whump, some violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-24
Updated: 2014-04-24
Packaged: 2018-01-20 15:01:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 17,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1514735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Latsin/pseuds/Latsin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is a known fact, M.O.M is not the most careful of people. But, when she gets lost and Martin and Diana come to the rescue, will they be ready to face a threat from M.O.M's past?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was my first chaptered fic and I was so proud of it... It was first posted on ff.net about... 6 years ago? (REALLY?!?! I'm getting OOOOOLD!) Ok, crisis over.

“Where is it?” came the question from behind a modern television set. And again, “Where is it?” 

Diana Lombard leaned on the doorway, watching the scene unfold and mildly amused at her brother’s actions, which mainly consisted in looking frantically through pile after pile of dirty clothing, forming after careless throwing of the articles to the floor of the room. 

 

“What are you missing now?” She finally asked with a sigh, not finding the events unusual at all. 

“Duh!” Martin answered, as if reprimanding her for not knowing, or partaking in the search. “Number four, special edition of the comic of the mutant man of the sewer, what else would I be looking for?” He then proceeded to dig through a pile of dirty socks.

“Hey, I don’t know.” Diana said, putting a finger to her chin as if in thought. “What about your brain? Are you still sure it’s inside your head?” She ducked to avoid getting hit by a red sock, courtesy of the blonde teen, of course. He didn’t turn before replying. 

“Very funny, Diana, really… I mean it, it’s very important!”

Diana returned to her former position and let him rummage through his clothes one more moment before getting to the point of her presence there.

“Right. Anyway, Martin, if you cleaned up your room you would definitely find it. Look at this place! It’s no wonder you don’t know where half of your things are.” after all, if she didn’t tell him, who would?

She saw Martin open his mouth to answer back, but he had to cut off mid-thought, for suddenly a chiming sound interrupted him.

“The Center!” He said, head poking through clothes like flowers from the ground in spring. That bit of information was utterly unnecessary, though. Diana could both hear and recognize the sound. He dove again, this time trying to find the portal amongst clothes and boxes from his closet. 

“Where’s Java?” He asked from its depths. 

“The cafeteria,” Diana answered, dreadfully stepping into Martin’s excuse of a dormitory. “He’s been off with us so many times, he hasn’t been working time enough. Headmaster Pebbleton threatened to stop paying him, so he started working overtime and temporarily retired from the Center.”

“Okay then, we have to leave him here. Now, let’s go.” Martin said, still looking around, but Diana knew that the possibility of him searching for the portal when a comic book was in the equation was minimal.

“Well, to do that, we need to find the portal, which would be a hundred times easier if your room were…” Diana started, but he interrupted with the phrase, “Stop whining about my room and help me look.” 

After a few more minutes, they managed to find the portal under a pile of pizza boxes, some of which still had leftovers. Thankfully Martin hadn’t left them lying around long enough for the remains to rot. 

The scanner cleared them for entrance, and drifted in the direction of the elevator, and the main pillar of the Center. Billy, surprisingly, wasn’t waiting for the siblings in front of it, but, as Diana reasoned, he probably had more important things to do than accompany them in the ride to M.O.M’s office. 

When Martin opened the door, another unusual sight greeted him and Diana. Billy was out of his hovering chair, and walking on M.O.M’s desk, scanning through files and reports with a face so worried, that the word concern would have been an understatement. 

“Billy?” Martin whispered in disbelief. The one mentioned looked up from a folder, and the siblings could see his sleep-deprived eyes, as well as skin one shade paler than usual.   
“What happened?” Diana asked, the most sensible thing to do right then. 

“I don’t have much time. M.O.M left me in charge, and I am on the edge of collapse. I slept two hours last night. I don’t know how she handles it… But the point is, she was going to return yesterday, she even called to say she was on her way back… And then no more trace of her.” Billy sat down as tears appeared on the corners of his eyes. 

“But,” Diana stepped in. “Can’t you find her with the U-Watch?”

“That didn’t work. I’ve checked every U-Watch outside the Center, but hers is not there… It’s like she vanished into the air, one moment I was talking to her, and the next, not a clue.”

“Well, what was the last location of her U-Watch?” Diana kept interrogating Billy, trying to find a rational approach to the situation. “What did she tell you?”

“Moonsbane forest, I think it’s called. Canada. She sent me a sample for analysis.” His crying had stopped.

“Ooh!” Martin called suddenly. “I bet it was some sort of alien fluid, o-or goblin saliva, or perhaps even…” He didn’t get the chance to finish that sentence, for Diana slapped him hard, and yelled at him.

“Can’t you keep those ridiculous theories to yourself and think for a second, you idiot?”

“Hey! I was just trying to be helpful!”

“Well, no good. Try again.” Diana retorted. “On second thought, just shut up.” She turned to Billy. “And? Did you find anything on the sample?”

“No.” the alien answered. “Not a single match.”

“Well, that’s a beginning…” Martin whispered sarcastically.

“Didn’t I tell you to keep quiet?” Diana told him. “We’ll help you find her, Billy.”

“Thank you. Now, if you find M.O.M, she’ll be the one giving the orders. Not to be rude, Marty, but don’t be reckless, and please listen to her.”

“Hey!” Martin protested.

“I’m sorry, but Billy’s right. You never listen.”

Billy cut the siblings off before the argument could develop, and continued, “You have three days, but after that come back here. And last, and I can’t stress this enough, if you find what she was chasing, run. Don’t try to fight it.” 

“Awww… Shouldn’t we at least try to catch it?” 

“No. Run. You can’t let it get you, too. Promise me you won’t do something suicidal.” Billy said, tears returning to his eyes.

“Okay.” Martin and Diana assured him. 

Billy smiled and thanked them before opening a portal to Torrington so the siblings could pack, and a few minutes later one to the forest. The teens stepped through the blue light and disappeared into the foliage.


	2. Chapter 2

For more than three long, exhausting hours, Martin and Diana looked for M.O.M in the forest. 

Unsuccessful, they finally decided to stop for the night and rest their sore feet with the sun setting over the horizon.

During the day, the only signs of life, other than the two of them, had been animals. And for each and every one of the squirrels, birds and deer, Martin had invented a new theory. If it wasn’t the chemicals in the water from a secret laboratory that had turned the animals intelligent and ordered them to kidnap M.O.M, it was a shape shifter, the lost brother of Gastromo, who had sworn to get revenge on her. After the fourth or fifth of these ridiculous possibilities, Diana had threatened Martin to punch his face so hard he would need ‘reconstructive surgery’.

Diana woke the following morning to the sound of Martin’s videogame. She looked at her watch and, with a sigh, got up to barge into her brother’s tent.

“What are you thinking, you idiot? Nobody in their right mind plays videogames at seven in the morning, not to mention bringing them into the forest!”

“Good morning Di, nice to see you so cheery today,” Martin commented, a casual smirk on his face.

“I truly hope you realize you are the single, most annoying person to ever walk the earth! We’re supposed to be looking for M.O.M and taking this seriously!” Diana was seething. How was it possible for Martin to be so stupid?

“All right, all right, I’ll put it away.” He gave in with a childish scowl.

“I’m glad to hear it.” Even if she herself did not notice it, Diana was already forgetting she was angry with Martin. The latter did realize, and changed the subject.

“So… Ready to walk again?” To help his case, he smiled.

“Yeah. Let’s pack and keep going.” Diana answered with a small smile.

An hour later, they were arguing again. To end said argument, Martin had pushed Diana towards a small stream, and, as expected, she’d slipped and fallen. Now she was soaking wet and chasing Martin through the forest. Of course, she couldn’t catch him, because he had a lot more experience in avoiding trouble than she did, but Martin was slowing down so she didn’t get lost.

Suddenly, the ground, as well as the forest, seemed to end. Martin yelped in surprise, but then noticed he was sliding down a slippery slope, landing on a clearing.

“Martin Mystery!” He heard behind him. “Come back here you little—AH!” Diana had slipped exactly the same way as he, yet Martin barely registered it, and didn’t even turn to gaze upon what could clearly have been blackmail material, for the construction in front of him was holding all of his attention.

What he could see was a cabin, or at least it had been until a huge tree had grown up right in its middle of its walls. Now, the ceiling was tilted to one side, and the first floor had been destroyed by the tree’s roots. The outer walls were covered in moss and plants, some of them entering through windows. The highest limbs of the tree spread out like a canopy above the second floor, throwing a shadow over the entire building.

“What the…?” Diana whispered next to Martin, also taking in the sight.

“Hey, Diana?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you think M.O.M is in there?” Martin asked with a small grin.

“I don’t know,” she answered, but then realized her brother’s intentions, “but you’re not going in there to find out.”

“But, if she is in there, we won’t know and we’ll keep wandering, maybe forever, with no idea she was in here the whole time.” With those words, he ran towards the door. Diana, after deciding she was not letting him go alone, rolled her eyes and ran after him.

“Oh, so you chose to come? Wise decision,” Martin commented, his only goal to unnerve Diana.

“Whatever, just shut up and open the door,” she responded, adding another roll of the eyes. Once the door was open, Martin stepped aside and bowed.

“Ladies first.”

“You wish,” Diana snorted. “This was your idea, so you go first.”

“As you please.” And he stepped inside.

It was all a bit dark, as if only illuminated by candlelight, because the windows were covered with plants, but what most captured the siblings’ attention was how clean the place was. It was almost like someone lived there. The expected amount of dust in an abandoned building was absent, and the plants within the house seemed like they had been trimmed back, although a bit messily.

At the moment though, the whole house was empty, and despite the signs of care within the cabin, there was a broken window on the second floor no one had bothered to repair, and the door had been open. Diana didn’t know why, but the whole situation made her nervous. Their search continued for a few minutes, until they were sure nobody was in the house. They walked back towards the forest, and Diana sighed in relief as soon as they passed the doorway.

To pass the time, Martin started wondering whether the best way to think of M.O.M as a boss, or rather as a friend of sorts. He remembered the series of events that had lead to M.O.M hiring him and Diana, and the million times she had been angry at him for destroying her office, or whatever she had been working on at the moment, but she forgave him over and over again. He realized that, considering the facts, she was, without doubt, a friend. There were many memories that lead to this conclusion, but the one he remembered most was, contrary to logic, not the time he was suspended.

M.O.M had called them to the Center, and Martin was planning a party that was more interesting than the one at Torrington. During M.O.M’s briefing, he had kept thinking about the idea for the ultimate party instead of the mission.

A fragile manticore skeleton, only held together by thin wire, and composed of thousands of tiny bones, stood almost complete on the table. Without any regards to it, Martin slammed his hand on the table, yelling that he had the perfect idea for his party. As would be expected, the skeleton collapsed, separating into single pieces.

M.O.M’s face turned intimidating, and Martin could see she was extremely annoyed at having to restart what had taken her hours to complete.

“You have three seconds to leave,” she said coldly, her voice evidencing her barely restrained anger. He didn’t have to hear it twice. Not a minute later, Martin, Diana and Java were no longer in M.O.M’s office.  
M.O.M sighed and started to gather the little bones.


	3. Chapter 3

The forest’s sights changed every few minutes, but after the first few hours neither Diana nor Martin noticed or cared anymore. Exhaustion was setting in again. They’d had to climb a small cliff, go around another one and evade a swarm of bees. Both needed a rest.

“Martin?” Diana asked.

“Hmm?” Martin replied.

Diana started to voice a question, but halfway through it she realized Martin’s thoughts were drifting somewhere else, and he wasn’t paying attention to her. “Martin, are you even listening to me?” she tried again.

“Hmm?” Diana then chose to shake his shoulder. “I’m sorry, what?” he finally said.

“I was asking you whether you were listening to what I was saying.”

“Oh. Sorry, Di, no.”

“Yeah, I kind of noticed…” She answered mockingly. “I was telling you that maybe we should stop here and eat lunch. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving!”

“Yeah, me too. I know. I’ll race you to that rock!” he said happily, pointing to a big boulder near the edge of yet another cliff.

“Okay. One, two…” Diana started counting, and Martin took off. “Hey!” she called, laughing. “That’s cheating, you idiot!” She ran after him.

As expected, Martin got there first, and danced cheerfully in front of Diana.

“No fair!” she panted. “You took off before I said three. It doesn’t count.”

“Oh, yeah, it does!” Their mock argument was cut short by a growl. It took both of them a few seconds to realize it had come from Diana’s stomach. They laughed and sat down, unpacking their lunch.

“Hey, Martin, what’s that?” Diana asked, taking another bite of her sandwich and pointing with it to a dark stain on the side of the rock they were currently using to shelter themselves from the sun.

“No idea,” he answered, reaching out to touch it with his finger. Diana slapped his hand away.

“Don’t you dare, stupid. We’re eating and it’s disgusting!” she chastised him.

“Okay, okay, I’ll scan it.” Martin said as he took out the bio-scan from his watch. He carefully took a sample from the substance and left the small machine on the ground. After a few seconds the scanner beeped, signaling the result was ready. Martin picked it up, the other hand holding his sandwich, and read the screen, taking a bite only to stop mid-chew.

“What is it?” asked Diana.

“Uh… I don’t think you wanna hear it until you finish eating, sis.”

“Why? What does it say?” As his only response, Martin handed her the scanner.

“Blood? O positive? About three hours old? But then that means…”

“We’ve gotta keep going. Save the other half of that sandwich for later, Diana, and let’s go.” Martin said, having already done so, though with great disappointment at having his lunch interrupted.

“Okay, which way next?” Diana asked, expecting to see Martin consult his U-Watch. However, he simply pointed to the cliff.

“Down there,” he said, looking at his feet. Diana was about to ask why until she saw some drops of what she was almost sure was blood again, leading to the precipice. Both looked down almost at the same time. Diana let out a gasp as she saw M.O.M lying on a sort of natural balcony on the cliff face. She had been lucky not to fall farther from there, as it was quite a long way down from there. No one ever would have found her way down there.

Martin activated the bungee turbo and tied it to the rock they had been next to when eating, then slowly descended and kneeled next to M.O.M. As it turned out, the woman was hurt: she had a small but deep cut below her ribs in her right side, and another just above the knee in her left leg. Her formerly white uniform was stained with her blood. Martin gently shook her shoulder, and her eyes fluttered open.

“Martin?” she asked weakly, recognizing the yellow hair spiked up with layer upon layer of hairspray.

“Yep, that’s me. So tell me, why are you still down here?”

She growled and showed him her U-Watch. The screen was cracked and blinking blue.

“Oh. You’ll need a new watch.” M.O.M rolled her eyes at that.

“Thank you, Sherlock. Now, would you mind helping me get up there with your sister?”

“Oh, right.” Martin looked up to see his sister glancing down at them, relief evident in her face. He offered a hand to M.O.M to help her stand, and then wrap her arms around his neck. They then made their way up with the help of Martin’s watch.

Once back on solid ground, Martin and Diana started discussing whether they should open a portal to the center right there or go back to the house and do it from there. M.O.M interrupted. “Nobody will be setting foot in that cabin again. I barely managed to escape from there. Did you go inside?”

“Well, yes. ...Wait. Escape? What’s going on?” Martin asked, dumbfounded. The place was, after all, abandoned…wasn’t it?

“And you didn’t see anything out of the usual?” M.O.M asked, evading the topic of what she was doing there until she had the answers she needed.

“No, seemed pretty common to me. I mean, except for the tree growing right in the middle of it, but I assumed it had been abandoned for too long.” Diana said.

“And there was nothing here?”

“No,” Martin stated, annoyed at all of M.O.M’s questions, and her lack of answers. He crossed his arms against his chest. “Now, would you please tell us what you were doing here?”

“Later. Let’s go. We’ll walk until we are out of the forest, and then open a portal. Understood? Keep an eye out for anything weird. We’ll stay clear from the house.” M.O.M said, already starting to walk.

“Wait! M.O.M! You’re wounded! Shouldn’t we take care of that first?” Diana cut in.

The woman did not stop walking as she retorted, “Later. Just walk. I’ll explain everything once we’re far away enough. There’s no way to tell who’s listening.”

“Who?” Martin asked, already carrying his backpack and running to catch up to M.O.M. “You mean, it’s a human?”

“Walk, Martin. I’ll tell you later.” She answered, rolling her eyes. The boy simply couldn’t stop his mouth.


	4. Chapter 4

The sun was nearly setting, when, after four hours of walking, Martin and Diana exchanged a glance and stopped. M.O.M looked back at them. They were standing in a small meadow, barely large enough to fit the two tents they carried and a campfire.

“Why did you stop?” she asked, fully intending to keep going.

“We should wait until morning. It’ll be dark in a while,” Diana commented.

“Yeah, M.O.M. I’m dead,” Martin cut in, resolutely dumping his bag on the ground and stretching.

“In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m being followed by a person whose only plan is to see me dead. If we stay here, we’re presenting the opportunity to him on a silver platter. Besides, I want to do some research on the sample I sent to Billy.” M.O.M turned to walk again.

“Oh, come on! There’s no way through the forest at nightfall, so you wouldn’t get much further. Besides, we could all use some rest,” Martin called after her. She realized he was determined not to go on, so she reluctantly returned.

“Fine, but if you’re so intent on sleeping, I’ll keep watch,” she told them.

“You’re not tired?” Martin asked, not believing her.

“Not really, besides, where would I sleep? I left my backpack in that house. No, it’s better if someone stays outside.” she reasoned.

“Yeah, well, you could share a tent with Diana.” He looked to his sister for encouragement, and received an energetic nod. “See? And it’s all right if I stay out for a while.”

“Just notice the irony: Martin rises from the dead.” M.O.M said sarcastically. “But, thank you.”

 

Diana sighed as she finally placed her heavy bag on the ground. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw M.O.M lean back against a tree, and then slide down to sit. Her boss had known exactly how to get to a stream, so they could have a drink, around the many small cliffs, and to this meadow without a single unnecessary step. Diana assumed she had spent more than enough time in the forest to know it backwards.

Diana rummaged through her bag for a moment, then took out the first aid kit, and neared M.O.M, whose hand was covering the wound on her side. The teen noticed this and asked, “What happened?” while she knelt down by M.O.M. The question also attracted Martin’s attention, so he sat down by them and waited for the answer.

“Do you by any chance remember the werewolf that can turn invisible?” M.O.M started after sighing. Both of her companions nodded. “Well, he is not the leader of the pack…”

“Wait. How do you know that? Seemed pretty leaderful to me…” Martin cut in.

“‘Leaderful’ isn’t even a word.” Diana said, looking annoyed.

“Well, excuse me, miss Walking Dictionary.” Martin crossed his arms and stuck out his tongue at Diana. 

M.O.M chuckled. The girl ignored her brother and instead opened the kit to take out a roll of bandages. 

“You were saying?” She asked M.O.M, who mentally groaned at having to continue with it.

“I know for certain he is not the leader because I know the first of them. He was my friend. And Martin, no, before you ask, I did not befriend a wolf. He used to be a human named Armin.” As she explained this, Diana was closing the bottle of alcohol, and soon pressed a piece of the wet bandage onto M.O.M’s knee. The dark haired woman only glanced briefly at it before continuing.

“At one point, he started getting weirder and weirder. Often preferring to be alone. One day, I went to his house to find out why he was acting so strange. His parents had no idea either. I demanded to see him. He was quite rude, a complete change from his usual behavior, but one his parents attributed to adolescence. Well, the point is, I didn’t even bother to knock on the door, so I managed to see him in his wolf form. He went rampant… I could only think of escaping, so I did. I ran down the stairs and out the door. He did not chase after me, and I did not think to look back.” M.O.M remained quiet for a moment, and Diana used that moment to clean her other cut, which was decidedly deeper and more painful. M.O.M winced and clenched her teeth, and then resumed talking, trying to downplay it.

“I had no idea what had gone on in that house until three years later. I’d moved away soon after the incident, and gave it no more thought. It really came as a surprise that he was suddenly there. He was human as he explained everything. He had been trying to come to terms with the wolf at that time, and seeing me had unchained it. I don’t know why. In the rage of not catching me, Armin killed his own parents… And blamed it on me.” She smiled sadly. “I escaped him once more… Into the Center. So, he knows of it, and of what we do there. That is the reason we can’t open a portal. I don’t think he will venture out of the forest in human form, given that I know how he looks like.” She finished.

At nightfall, with a campfire already lit, M.O.M sat down to look around, and the teenagers retired to their tents. Twenty minutes later, both were sound asleep. M.O.M wrapped the blanket she’d gotten from Martin around her shoulders, and took a deep breath.

Remembering Armin had made her realize that this was much more real and dangerous than she dared to believe. That day, three years before, she’d been ready to ignore Armin was a wolf and just start over. She still was, if he’d just forget about the incident himself. She knew, though, that was impossible. She had tried it herself. She was just lucky Armin’s revenge-, which she wasn’t even sure was his- consisted of hunting her down, and not her relatives. It was in these moments that she was thankful for the existence of the Center, but fearful for the future of the organization, and, more importantly, her position as its manager. One tiny mistake could lead to utter destruction, or to her death.


	5. Chapter 5

After almost five hours of restless pondering, and much-too-calm surroundings, M.O.M thought of waking Martin to take over. She yawned and was about to get up when she spotted a bush moving to her left. She frowned and waited until she saw it move again. Carefully, she stood up and walked backwards towards the tents, not letting the bush out of her sight. Her intention was to wake the siblings, but she was stopped by a shadow, moving swiftly to cover her mouth with a hand finished by long, curled nails. In the dim light, it was hard for M.O.M to distinguish anything, but she already knew who, or rather, what was attacking her. 

The wolf.

She tried to break free of his grasp, but he was too strong. She was helpless to warn Martin or Diana, but she could at least buy herself some time by fighting for all she was worth, still trying to escape. She didn’t notice when Armin lifted his other hand, until the sharp claws pierced her shoulder. Her scream was muffled by his hand, yet still just loud enough to wake Diana inside her tent.

Diana stood up, and soundlessly opened the flap of her tent enough to peek outside. The sight that met her eyes was that of M.O.M being attacked. She silenced a gasp and carefully opened the rest of the flap, sneaking out and tiptoeing to where Martin was sleeping. She begged that Armin wouldn’t see her, but, being a natural klutz, she tripped on her way there, falling over the tent. The commotion was more than enough to make Martin, sleeping peacefully within it, wake up and come out, yelling, “What is wrong with you?!” and manage to attract Armin’s attention. Finding himself noticed before he was ready, he quickly made his escape. Martin was quick to react and sent the net from the U-Watch his way, to no avail, however, as Armin bit quickly through the threads and escaped. To avoid another attempt, he roughly pulled M.O.M up and dragged her out of the clearing, threatening to slice her neck if they tried to follow. 

This was, of course, conveyed with gestures, as he could not speak as a wolf.

Once far enough away from the humans, Armin let go of M.O.M and kept running. She slowly got up and started walking back to where Martin and Diana were, clutching her shoulder. They rushed to her side, ready to support her if she needed it.

“Are you okay?” Martin asked her. She nodded absently, studying Armin’s new behavior in her mind. He was definitely after the Center, leaving his revenge at her for after he had taken over. The thought was nothing if not disturbing, for she would have to redouble her efforts to get out of the forest as soon as possible, and who knew if even that would stop him.

With the light of the campfire, Diana was able to see her most recent injury, and, after instructing M.O.M to sit down and grabbing the first aid kit from her tent, she uncovered the wound. There were three gashes on M.O.M’s shoulder, still bleeding slowly. Diana again began the all-too-familiar process of cutting a piece of the bandage and wetting it with alcohol. M.O.M hissed in pain as the alcohol penetrated the gashes, but kept still. After a while, Diana was done bandaging the wounds.

“Now, if you don’t mind, I’ll leave you here to watch and go to sleep,” M.O.M said, getting up. “May I take your sleeping bag, Martin?”

“Uh- yeah, of course.” He answered, throwing a dead branch into the fire, trying to rekindle it. As M.O.M went inside the tent, Martin told Diana to come speak to him later.

Diana helped M.O.M carry what she needed out of Martin’s tent, and then the woman extended the sleeping bag on the ground.

“Thank you for sharing the tent with me, Diana.” M.O.M commented, smiling at the girl.

“It’s really no problem at all.” Diana slid beneath the blankets and bag, and then asked, “Are you mad at us for forcing you to stop tonight?”

M.O.M sighed. “Not really. I just do not want you involved in this. I feared Armin would try to go after you, too. Well, it’s clear now that his plan somehow involves the Center, not only me. It’s just that he is my problem and I would hate to see either of you hurt unnecessarily.”

“You used his first name right now. I thought you hated him.”

“It seems silly calling him otherwise, doesn’t it? You and your brother know him, so there is no need for terminology. Besides, there is a part of me that can’t hate him, no matter what I do. I knew him when he was human, so it’s harder for me to accept he’s changed.” M.O.M was now also covered with blankets. “Even though he’s stabbed me, thrown me over a cliff and scratched me by now.” She whispered. “Good night,” and closed the conversation. Diana replied with a “G’night, M.O.M” in true Martin fashion, and waited until M.O.M was asleep to tiptoe out of the tent, finding Martin with the bio-scan in hand.

“What are you doing?” she asked him.

“Trying to find out if he’s still near. Invisible wolf or not, he still emits body heat,” Martin said, letting the contraption disappear back into the U-Watch.

“And? Anything?” Diana sat down on the rock next to him.

“No. Nothing in the perimeter. How’s M.O.M?”

“Asleep. Why?”

“Just a feeling,” Martin answered. “Tonight I have the creeps.” He smiled.

“Yeah, me too.”

M.O.M woke up before Diana did, seeing as she usually slept in a room that was significantly less bright than a forest in the morning. Birds were chirping, and the wind was blowing. She calmly walked outside, to find Martin reading a magazine. Knowing him, it was probably one of his varied mystery and horror comic books. Why he would bring that to a forest was beyond her comprehension. Martin was so immersed in it he didn’t notice her until she walked closer and tapped his shoulder. He glanced back.

“Morning, M.O.M,” he said, stretching.

“You do know you were supposed to be on look out, don’t you?” M.O.M said, hands on her hips in a gesture of annoyance.

“I am.” He pointed to the bio-scan on the rock beside him. “All clear.”

M.O.M’s eyebrows rose. “Clever idea.”

“Is my sister up?”

“Not yet. But we should get going.”

“Yeah. You know, it’s better if I wake her up. She’s not really a morning person, even if she looks like one.” He chuckled and stood. M.O.M watched, amused, as he entered the tent. There was angry yelling, there was rustling, there was talking and finally, brother and sister came out.

“Morning,” Diana whispered, still thinking it was way too early.

“Want some breakfast?” Martin handed each of them a cereal bar.

M.O.M smiled in thanks. She noticed the slight difference in the way they addressed her. Their words were friendlier, the setting was more relaxed…and yet, the same respect they’d always had for her was still there. The change was unexpected, but M.O.M didn’t necessarily hate it.


	6. Chapter 6

They set off after a while, chatting lightly as they walked. The day was uneventful until noon. They had been steadily nearing Armin’s house, and when they drew close, M.O.M spun around and stopped to talk with Martin and Diana for a moment.

“I refuse to go in front that place.” She looked them both in the eye. “I don’t want any of us trapped in there. Going around it will take more time, but it’s safer.”

“I really don’t think he’d see us walking in front of the house. We’d be by it in two seconds.” Martin said, shrugging.

“Oh, he would.” She turned to the left. “Come on.” Diana wordlessly pushed Martin forward, for he’d remained standing still.

“What’s with the sudden bad mood?” he asked in a whisper, looking at Diana.

“I don’t think she’s entirely pleased with the situation,” was the quiet answer.

Nearly one hour after, M.O.M came to a sudden stop.

“What is it?” asked Diana.

“We’ve already been here.” She looked around. “Yes, we’re walking in circles… Martin, can I have your U-Watch for a moment?” She stretched out a hand.

“Uh, sure.” He handed her the item. She set a new range and turned the contraption on. She confirmed they had indeed gone around Armin’s house, thrice to be precise. M.O.M nodded to herself and handed the watch back to its owner. She started walking again, in the opposite direction, and, after a long while, she stopped again, the siblings behind her. She turned around.

“He wants us to walk in front of his house. Now, I don’t know why, but I’m sure the reason does not benefit us. So I have to ask you, should we?”

“Well, it doesn’t look like we’ve got a choice, right?” Martin said. Both gave Diana a meaningful look.

“I don’t know. I mean, couldn’t we find another way?” She was nervously wringing her hands. M.O.M sighed.

“I don’t think so. This looks like a wormhole. No matter what we do, we can’t escape this little route.” She looked down. “There really is no way out of this. Our only other choice is to wait until it dissipates.”

“And? How long would that be?”

“As long as his powers last. And I have no idea how long they will.”

“Wait,” Martin cut in. “He can create wormholes? How cool is that?” He received a glare from both women. “Okay, ignore the comment. But you know I’m right.” He smirked, self-satisfied.

“So, it’s either waiting an indefinite amount of time or doing what he wants.” Diana said. M.O.M nodded. “With Martin around? I’d rather face the unexpected.” Martin sulked, Diana laughed, and M.O.M smirked.

“We’ll walk right into his hands,” Martin commented, effectively killing the light mood.

“Do you have a better idea? I’d be willing to hear it.” Diana put her hands on her hips. There was no answer. Both teens looked at M.O.M grudgingly, but she had already taken the first steps in the dreaded direction.

As M.O.M expected, Armin was watching. And as he expected, she knew this. And he knew she knew his plan was working, but she was much too proud to tell her companions. 

It was just in time for Armin that they walked in front of the house, for wormholes were quite hard to create. He had feared he wouldn’t be able to go on for much longer. The only factor of his plan he’d left to luck was over. And he had succeeded. He was in human form right now, watching the three hikers from a window. He turned to glance at the grandfather clock in the opposite corner. It was almost time. He closed his eyes, letting the essence of the beast envelop him, feeling himself change with a certain pride.

M.O.M was tired. She could feel a headache coming on and yet had to keep walking. She really should focus on getting away from the forest as soon as was possible, but her whole body, especially her limbs, felt heavy. Her thinking was slow, but her obligation to Martin and Diana, and to their safety, still prevailed,so she struggled to keep alert for noises and movement. And she really had to keep walking, otherwise, the teenagers would insist on opening a portal. And there was no worse time to do this than now, right in front of their predator. She glanced back. They were nervous, looking around themselves.

After a few minutes of anxious walking, they finally cleared the house. Armin, fully transformed, looked at the clock one last time before setting out under the cover of his invisibility, counting down in his head as he followed. He could see M.O.M’s motivation was all but crushed right now, as was her attention to her surroundings. Armin smiled to himself, a gesture that was barely human, full of sharp, long teeth. Ah, there. M.O.M had stopped. He had waited the whole night just for this shortest of moments.

“M.O.M?” Diana called, concerned. The woman had simply walked to a tree and sat down, as if waiting for something. “Are you okay?”

“I wanna sleep…” was the mumbled, slurred answer.

“Uh, right. But we have to go on. Armin’s after you, remember?” Diana looked worriedly towards Martin, wordlessly asking him for his help. The boy neared them and shook M.O.M. This seemed to make her snap out of her trance, but as she tried to stand up again, her strength vanished. She just sat there, panicked eyes darting around, blinking occasionally but otherwise unmoving. It was soon clear she just couldn’t move.

“Uh, Martin? Does this look like a good enough reason to escape into the Center? I really don’t think we should wait for that…thing to catch up.”

“Well, yeah, but she said not to.”

M.O.M watched their exchange desperately, wishing she could tell them to just run. She had picked up some suspicious movement in the trees to their left and wasn’t entirely certain staying there was the best of ideas. Neither was granting Armin passage to the Center. She felt as if really drunk, not even sure she could tell which way was up, much less speak.

She tried to move until she could, at least, attempt to stand up. But the deed was done. The portal stood open before her. Soon, Martin had her arm around his shoulders and was helping her cross the portal. Diana walked in behind them.

And it was in the moment in between Diana crossing and the portal closing that Armin slid in, still invisible. At first, too accustomed to the daylight, everything seemed just too blue and dark, but as his eyes adjusted, he spotted two technicians talking about a glitch in the main electricity system. This was all going better than he had first thought it would.

By the time Billy arrived, Martin having called him, M.O.M had already recovered. She jerked away from Martin, who was still holding her up, and winced. Luckily for her, nobody noticed.

“What in the world were you thinking, Martin?” she yelled. “Doing the only thing I told you not to! What if Armin’s here?” She was nearly growling in rage, punctuating the words with a ferocious glare. “Tell me, do you have any way at all to be sure?”

“No,” Martin said meekly. “M.O.M, I’m sorry…”

“Like hell you are. Didn’t I explain it to you?” she interrupted, still angry.

“Well, it’s not like we could have stayed there, we didn’t know which way to go! If someone’s to blame, it’s you. You think you can do it all yourself, well I’ll tell you what! You can’t! Oh, yeah, you don’t need to sleep, you can be the lookout. Sure, you can take the werewolf on by yourself! You can lead us out of the forest just fine!”

“Martin…” Diana said, grabbing his shoulder, trying to calm him down.

“No! If you could, this wouldn’t have happened!”

“Now see here…” M.O.M was seething by now, but apparently, Martin wasn’t finished.

“If you had thought to ask for help at any time, we wouldn’t even be here arguing! In fact, if you had thought to ask for help in the first place, we wouldn’t have had to go look for you! This whole thing was a disaster because you don’t understand the meaning of the word ‘team’!” he finished, his stance mirroring M.O.M’s, shoulders tense, fists clenched at his sides.

“I have had it with you! You have no right questioning…”

Two things happened at once. First, M.O.M cut off and clenched her teeth, a hand going to the wound on her side. Second, the lights suddenly went off, plunging the Centre into darkness. The longest minute of their lives was spent waiting for the emergency power plant to kick on, unable to see anything, the only sound M.O.M’s ragged, pained breathing.

When the lights finally turned on again, Billy quickly morphed into his human shell and strode to M.O.M, who was kneeling on the floor.

“Come on.” He grabbed the hand on her side, lightly trying to get the woman to her feet. M.O.M shook her head. It was then that Billy noticed the blood on her hand. He turned back to his small alien self.

“We need an emergency team here!” he yelled into a microphone, and hovered next to M.O.M.

“Martin, would you just calm down?” Diana whispered to him.

“No. I have every right to be mad.”

“Alright, she was too quick to judge you. You just did the same to her. And, judging by the power outage, she may be right. Armin could be in here, and it would be our fault. You really shouldn’t have yelled at her,” Diana said, looking at M.O.M being transported on a gurney.


	7. Chapter 7

Billy walked to Martin and Diana. “What happened?” He asked. “Who is Armin?”

“Long story short, the creator of the invisible werewolf down in the cell blocks. He has a vendetta against M.O.M. She was injured when we found her, then he tried to ambush us. He scratched her. Today, she just stopped moving… It was really weird.” Diana said, she and Billy ignoring a sulking Martin. 

“Why didn’t you call?” Billy had been worried sick, and all for nothing, because they had already found M.O.M.

“Well, M.O.M told us not to. You see, Armin already knows too much about the Center. And she doesn’t want to make this easier for him. You saw how she was about the portal…” 

Billy’s hovering chair chimed. He turned his green little head to look at it and frowned.

“What?” Diana asked, hoping it was not what she thought.

“The blackout was caused intentionally… And there’s two monsters missing already…” He pressed a series of buttons on the keyboard in front of him, calling an agent. “I think he’s here.”

There was no doubt as to who he was. A man came running at them. After a small explanation, the man was sent off to help evacuate the technicians, researchers and basically anyone with no field experience. 

“Billy?” Diana claimed his attention, previously focused on the agent’s retreating back. “What are you going to do about M.O.M?”

He pondered for a moment. “I really don’t know.”

“Well, she could always come with us, but she’d have to stay on Martin’s room,” Here Martin cut in. 

“Hey! You can’t decide that all of a sudden! What if…” 

“Because that’s where the portal’s attached to” Diana resumed, interrupting him. “And she shouldn’t walk about in the academy, I mean, they know her.” Martin accepted this fact, but only because he had already come up with an alternative for himself. He could not talk to M.O.M right now, he was much too angry still, but Diana was right.

“Okay, could you take care of that?” Billy said, apparently distracted by some banging in one of the lower levels. He really had to lock the cellblocks, preferably now. “I have to go.” He hovered off to the elevator.

Diana and Martin walked quickly to the wing M.O.M was in, the latter dreadfully. Minutes later, the three of them were in Martin’s bedroom, the state of which hadn’t changed since two days before. M.O.M was leaning on the windowsill, catching some sunlight, while Diana was sitting at the desk, cluttered with old essays, all of them with Ds on them, and some with stains of unknown origins on them. Martin was lying down on the bed, his attitude possessive. There were boxes upon boxes of takeout food on the wooden floor, and clothes that looked like they were begging to be washed. The smell the room should have was masked by that of Martin’s car deodorant collection, hanging above the door. In short, they were inside the room of the average student, with a few peculiarities that were purely Martin.

“So now what?” Diana asked, trying to somehow break the tense atmosphere between her brother and her boss. 

“Now I wait a while, then go to Java’s room. It’s movie night.”

“No, it’s not.” Diana said, frowning.

“Is, too.” Martin said calmly, looking at the ceiling.

M.O.M did not interrupt. She had stood there, eyes on the ground, thoughts on Armin being in the Center, and not said a word in quite a while. She knew she was really in no position to ask for anything, much less Martin’s company, so the fact that he was trying to avoid her as much as possible came as no surprise to her. And, to be true, she preferred it so. She wasn’t sure if she could bring herself to stop being angry with him, either.

After a while, Diana got up. She just couldn’t take the silence any longer, but she was not about to bring the argument to life again.   
“I have class.” And really, she did. But she was reluctant to leave them alone, even when she knew it would probably help that they had no one to do the speaking for them. M.O.M and Martin could behave like children all they wanted, but alone. Diana resolutely walked through the mess and out the door. 

“I’m going with Java.” Martin commented later, and also left, leaving M.O.M in the room alone. She sighed. 

 

When Diana came back almost six hours later, she found M.O.M sitting in front of the mini Center, looking through the Legendex. The dark haired woman turned for a moment, and then glanced back at the screen. 

“Hi, Diana.” 

“Uh, hi. Where’s Martin? He didn’t show up at class.” 

“He didn’t?” M.O.M answered, not surprised in the least. She had seen Martin’s assistance reports herself, and signed quite a few of them, too, seeing as it was partly her fault he skipped some hours. 

“He’s with Java.” 

“And he didn’t try to clean the room?” 

“No.” M.O.M stretched, wincing a little.

“What did they do to you?” Diana asked, sitting on the bed. 

“Stitched me. One of the wounds had reopened.” 

“And you didn’t tell me because…” The girl said questioningly, frowning.

“I didn’t notice.” M.O.M shrugged.

“Uh-huh.” Diana was skeptical.

“Uh-huh what? It’s true.” M.O.M said this so seriously that Diana had to believe her, and dropped the subject. 

There was silence for a moment, and then Diana appeared next to her. “What are you doing?” 

“Searching the Legendex for clues on what we can do about Armin. Of course, I’ve tried this countless times, but there wasn’t much else I could do.” Her eyes were scanning the screen again. “I wonder how Billy’s doing.” She said quietly with a sigh.

“He can handle things there.” Diana knew M.O.M would rather be the one there, taking control, so she changed the subject. “Nothing new?” M.O.M shook her head. 

“Then again, there is not much one can do with such keywords. Invisible? Werewolf? I can think of at least three such legends.”

“How many that can manipulate space?” Diana was grinning now, having discovered what M.O.M was missing. The woman just stared at her, then blinked a couple of times, until realization dawned on her. Her face went blank, and then she rolled her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. 

“I can’t believe I missed that…” She said, chuckling lightly. “Thank you.” She told Diana. She typed the missing word in, still shaking her head at herself in disbelief.

The screen blinked for a moment. Then, a big eight appeared on the screen, with the words ‘search results’ above it. M.O.M beamed. 

“This is great! And it gets even better: We can rule the first two and the last one out; they’re already in a cell, so that gives us five. And, take the two in Europe away, there’s only three to choose from.” 

“So?”

“So you’ll go sleep, and I’ll read these and tell you tomorrow. It’s late. And could you tell the same to Martin? And please tell him I want to speak with him tomorrow.” M.O.M smiled. Diana mockingly glared at her. 

“Oh, you are not sending me to bed.” 

“Oh, I am.” M.O.M chuckled. Diana shook her head dramatically and pointed an accusatory finger at her. 

“You just wait… In a few months, I’ll be an adult… You just wait.” Then she, too, chuckled. “Good night.”


	8. Chapter 8

M.O.M had fallen asleep on the chair, happy to have figured out how to proceed. A plan was almost traced on her mind, the details missing she would have to base on what she was told on a couple of phone calls she had to make. 

Diana found her just like that, and shook her shoulder to wake her up. M.O.M groggily sat upright. 

“Morning.” She whispered. Diana handed her yellow cup of coffee.

“Thanks.” She took a few sips and then just held the cup, warming her hands, and then proceeded to tell Diana of the werewolves. She pointed at the screen. “The first one, the sightings are dated back to when the first colonies were set up, in the sixteen hundreds. Now, that particular individual was a young, grey wolf. Easily recognizable. The sightings of that one continued for over a century, but after that, nothing. Werewolves live long, but they are not immortal. I’m running on the theory that he’s dead.” 

“Okay.” Diana said, knowing M.O.M liked to explain things whether they had a point or not. 

“Now, second one.” M.O.M scrolled down the page. “Appeared sometime during last century. There are two reasons I know that’s not Armin. One, this werewolf is a born one. He wasn’t a human at all. That is, of course, if you trust the story. Two, this wolf has red fur. Armin doesn’t.” 

“So, number three is the winner.” Diana said. 

M.O.M took a swig of coffee. “Precisely. This one isn’t an actual werewolf; it’s the spirit of one. So it fits, because I knew Armin before that, and he was no monster.”

There was a sudden knock at the door. 

“Diana?” A girly voice asked. 

“I’m here!” Diana answered, thinking feverishly about how to keep Jenny from entering the room. She saw the chaos on the floor. 

“Don’t come in! This is a mess. I’ll open in a minute.” She walked over to the closet, trying to see inside, but as soon as she opened the wooden door, three boxes fell over her. They were luckily light, but the noise of them bouncing to the floor was enough to have Jenny suspicious.

“What’s going on there?” She asked. 

M.O.M turned back from trying to climb on the upper bed, and Diana shook her head. The closet was not a choice. And apparently, neither was the bed. There was no room for her among clothes and a surfboard. 

“Come on, Diana, hurry up! You promised to help me at the library!” Came the whine from behind the door. Diana slapped her palm to her face in frustration. How could she have forgotten? She closed the closet back up. M.O.M was still looking for somewhere to hide, having had no better luck than her.

“I’m coming in, Diana.” 

The teen pointed at the hole in the wall where the chair of the mini Center was supposed to fit into, M.O.M shook her head, not wanting to be trapped in such a small space, but after hearing Jenny turn the door handle, she resigned to being inside a wall and sat down, at the same time that Diana let the camouflaged panel of the wall slide back into place, and as Jenny opened the door. 

“Were you cleaning, Di?” She asked, choosing to stay at the doorway rather than tread through the numerous clutter piles.

“I…Uh… Yes!” She replied, a little too quickly, noticing the yellow cup on the floor. She stepped to the side to cover it.

“Okay. But you should really leave Martin to his mess. I mean, it’s his problem alone, right?” 

“You know? It is. I don’t even know what I was doing here…”

“Exactly. Now come on, let’s go.” Jenny grabbed Diana’s arm and dragged her out of the room between complaints of “Wait!” and “Let go!”. And M.O.M could only roll her eyes inside the wall and think ‘Just great’. 

 

It was over an hour until Martin finally showed up as asked to, and knocked twice on his own door before entering. The room was empty.   
“Diana? M.O.M?” He was getting annoyed at having come there to find no one. Then, he heard his name, spoken out loud but muffled by the sound of the wall. Now, this was strange… He pressed the ornament-like button anyway, and was quite surprised to see M.O.M slowly getting up from beside the folded chair. 

“What were you doing there?” He asked, trying to sound uninterested.

“Your friend Jenny came to abduct Diana, and I had to hide somewhere. Of course, in this mess you wouldn’t be able to hide a mouse anywhere.” M.O.M had her hands on her hips as she said this. “But this is not your fault. Diana must have forgotten to come back. She’s at the library.”

“Oh.” Martin leaned against the desk. “Was that what you wanted to tell me?” 

“Of course not.” M.O.M said flatly. “The reason you are here is to hear me out. Because I know you wouldn’t do it otherwise.”

“Oh, come on! Don’t give me that! We both know…”

“I’m sorry.” M.O.M interrupted him “For yelling at you for something you could have done nothing against.” 

Martin remained speechless.

“I was angry and I blamed you. I shouldn’t have. So I’m sorry.”

“Oh. Okay.” He said, shrugging. He gave her a small conspirational smile. “So, what did you find?” M.O.M rolled her eyes.

“That’s it? Aren’t you going to apologize to me?” 

“Whatever for?” Martin asked, shrugging. 

“I don’t believe you! Look, at least I’m trying to…”

“Relax, M.O.M. It was a joke. I’m sorry too.” He received a glare. 

“You fool.” she rolled her eyes. “I don’t know why I put up with you…” 

“And? What’s new?” He changed the subject again. M.O.M didn’t want to repeat the whole explanation, so she just sat on the mini Center’s chair and looked for the file, letting Martin read for himself. He whistled and said, “Nice…” Dragging out the I as long as he could.

“More like troublesome.”

“Well, do you have a plan?”

“Yes.” M.O.M smirked. “And there’s an extra benefit for you.”

“Ooooooooh! Really?” 

M.O.M nodded. “But…”

“Oh, here it comes.” Martin rolled his eyes.   
“You have to clean up this place.” 

He groaned. “You don’t mean that, do you?”

“Afraid I do. But it’ll be worth it.”

“Are you sure?” Martin asked, whining. M.O.M glared at him.

Martin started picking up dirty clothes from the wooden floor he hardly ever saw. M.O.M watched for a minute, making sure he would finish doing as instructed. Then she assumed he could behave and clean for a moment while she finished researching. This time, however, she didn’t go sit in front of the mini Center. 

“Martin?” 

“Yeah?” He was hanging on to the bed with one hand while sweeping the upper mattress clean of the mess.

“Can I borrow your phone?” 

“Sure.” He fished it out of his pocket with his free hand, and threw it to M.O.M.


	9. Chapter 9

An hour went by. M.O.M had talked on the phone for about ten minutes, and then decided to wait for Diana to come back from her classes. Now, she watched with amusement as Martin turned the handle of the closet, recalling the scene with Diana, and chuckled wholeheartedly as the same happened to him. Only Martin hadn’t been expecting it, and the closet’s contents fell on top of him, covering the already clutter-free floor again and burying him.

“Not funny.” He groaned, trying to disentangle a scarf from his legs. M.O.M crossed the room from her former spot sitting on the bed and offered him a hand, still chuckling. Martin took it, and after moving crates and objects with his other hand, got up. “Oh, man!” he said upon seeing the mess he had just made.

“Hey! This is mine!” M.O.M said, holding up a paperweight in one hand and a tiny laser beam in the other.  
Martin smiled sheepishly. “Oops? Busted…” Martin was already bracing for the yelling to begin, but surprisingly, it didn’t come.

“Busted is right. I’ll be taking these back.”

He was quite confused: that hadn’t been one of the usual reactions he would usually get from her. “That’s it? No yelling at me for taking those? No asking for what else is yours?”

“No. If something else appears, I’ll just take it back. Why bother yelling?” She’d searched like crazy for that missing laser, though. How and when had Martin taken it?

While she was considering this, an eerie blue glow appeared near the window, forming into the square-shape of a portal to the Center. Both M.O.M and Martin turned, fists raised, but then relaxed as Billy was the one to zoom in. The portal closed right behind him. 

“Hi, guys!” he said, naturally happy. “Where’s Diana?”

“In her second home—the library!” Martin commented.

“Billy, how’s the situation?” M.O.M asked, not wanting to wait any longer. She really needed to hear it. 

“Good, actually. We’ve split into groups, and are trying to catch him, but we can’t. Two monsters escaped, but they’re not really that dangerous. It seems he was trying to release all of the creatures, but he left after those two. I sealed the doors to the cells, and one of the monsters was captured already. There’s not even been one injury. The only thing Armin’s done so far is walk around the Center in his wolf form.”

M.O.M nodded. “He’s waiting. Has he been in my office?”

“No, I sealed the doors there, too. Why?” asked Billy.

M.O.M smirked, but didn’t answer his question. “This is good. So he has no access to the main computer either, does he?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

By this time, everybody was wondering what M.O.M could be thinking. She seemed to be making up a plan, but this far they had no details.

“Billy, you remember Jerry, don’t you?” She smiled.

“Of course!” Billy smiled widely, too.

“He’ll help us. I already talked to him, and he said we could go whenever we like. But we have to wait for Diana.” Her face fell, and she added, “You’re not going to like this…”

As if on cue, the door opened, and in came Diana. She was carrying a pile of books. “Like what?” she asked, balancing the books on her knee as she closed the door.

M.O.M sighed. “I have a plan… I talked to an old friend on the phone and asked him what he knew about Armin. All he could give me were two names. One is the spirit’s name, Väykn. The other one is of someone who can supposedly tell us more...” she trailed off.

“And what aren’t we supposed to like about that? We’re one talk away from hopefully knowing how to get rid of the spirit,” Martin piped up.

“Because of that somebody’s name, right?” Diana asked.

“Exactly. The only one that can help us is the Gatekeeper,” M.O.M revealed. The room was silent.

“Wait. You mean the floating, riddle-obsessed monk that was ruling over all the creatures of the underworld before you took over?” Martin couldn’t believe his ears. “The same Gatekeeper that almost took over the world?”

“Yes, Martin, that’s him,” M.O.M replied tiredly. She did not like to remember that time, but if it was necessary, she was willing to talk to the monk. “Here comes the risky part…”

“You mean trying to talk to the only one with power over the gates to the underworld isn’t dangerous?” Martin interrupted.

“Not as much as you think.” M.O.M took over, rolling her eyes at the interruption. “He only has to stay there for two centuries; after that he’ll be released. We can’t keep him there any longer. Now, of course, none of us is going to live to see that, and since the Center itself is going to live that long, he just has to wait,” she explained. “Satisfied?” She turned to Martin, who nodded shyly. “The Gatekeeper is currently in one of the cells in Block E. Billy closed that place. There is no way in there except for opening a portal directly into the cell. The problem is if we open a portal, the alarm will go crazy. There is no way to disconnect the alarm without first opening the doors, and we are not going to do that.”

They all waited expectantly for the revelation that would help them out of their predicament. Billy was the one to ask, standing up from his hover chair and leaning on the back of the seat, “So, what do we do?”

“We need to distract Armin for some time—ten minutes would do. I need you to go back to the Center and tell one of the groups to distract him; experienced agents, if you find them.”

The little alien nodded and set off. She stopped him just before he opened yet another portal to go back. 

“You,” she started again, “are going to make sure the alarm sounds as little as possible. If you can, stop it before it even starts.” Billy nodded once more.

“Do you have a U-Watch?” M.O.M asked him, briefly showing him the cracked screen of the one on her wrist. Wordlessly, he opened a drawer of the desk and took the item out before handing it to her. It was really amazing how much he could keep in his chair.

“Thank you.” M.O.M replaced her watch. “I’ll contact you before we create the portal. Be prepared.” The alien nodded and disappeared into the blue portal.

“So,” M.O.M sighed after a while, “are you coming?” She gave the teens a small, ironic smile. She was already standing in front of a new blue-rimmed square.

“Where are we going?” Diana asked. “Well, I mean, Billy said Armin was just walking around. What if we stumble across him?”

“We won’t. Trust me.” M.O.M crossed the portal, glancing back at them. Martin and Diana shrugged, and followed.

They came to an unlit room. M.O.M felt along the wall for a switch and turned the lights on, revealing a small hallway with walls covered with screens, only a few of them on. Martin and Diana stared around themselves. M.O.M just walked on, as if knowing the place by heart.

“Hey, M.O.M…” Martin called. “Why are there so many screens?”

Diana had noticed that too and stood in front of a screen, staring at herself in it. It was quite paradoxical, and Diana could see no camera around herself.

“Are all of the agents under surveillance?” she asked.

M.O.M rolled her eyes, and sighed. “If you are willing to trade the answer for a couple of bunkers on the South Pole,” she replied, staring ahead, “be my guests.”

“Uh, no, I’d rather not,” he commented quietly, and the three kept walking.

When the small passage widened, M.O.M stopped and contacted Billy through her watch, the siblings stopping two steps behind her.


	10. Chapter 10

“Where is he?” she asked Billy’s face on the screen of her watch.

“Rounding the elevator. We’re all on the second floor.”

“Good.” She smiled. “Did he shut off the primary power?”

“Uh… Yes. Sorry.” The alien looked uncomfortable, and M.O.M’s face fell.

“Great,” she said sarcastically. “How long do you estimate the information delay is?”

Martin cut in, unable to understand the technical jargon. “Wait a minute. What are you two talking about? We’d really appreciate it if you could speak civilian.”

M.O.M rolled her eyes and turned to Billy for an answer. “Two or three seconds,” the alien said.

“Thank you.” She turned to Martin. “The primary power generator is off. It takes about two minutes for the secondary power generator to work. Now that it’s working, everything that is transmitted to the first one has to be retransmitted to the second. This takes more time—two seconds, according to Billy.”

“Meeeeaning?”

M.O.M rolled her eyes again. “Meaning we count to five, I create the portal on three and Billy deactivates the alarm on five.”

“But the Gatekeeper can possess someone,” Diana cut in.

“Yeah. The plan’s crazy, M.O.M,” Martin commented, as if merely stating the obvious.

M.O.M glared at him. “Martin, I’m not the head of the Center because I’m a fool or because I can’t plan ahead. And while I agree that you may take the job someday, for now you answer to me.” She turned her head turned to Diana. “And he can only possess one of us at a time. Whoever’s not possessed will avoid damage.”

She turned to Billy’s face on the screen of her watch. “Ready?” The green alien nodded stiffly, an unusually grim expression on his face. “One… Two… Three…” She pushed a button on her watch. “Four…” She begged the siren wouldn’t go on. So far, it hadn’t. “Five.”

Nothing. There was a moment of silence. Then, the alarm went crazy. It wailed like there was no tomorrow, and red lights blinked everywhere, startling everyone and more than likely alerting Armin of their location. Martin, Diana and M.O.M were safe; there was absolutely no way that Armin would find them. M.O.M was sure of that. But what about Billy and her other agents? They were out there, facing Armin themselves. The surprise factor was, at least for today, out of the question.

M.O.M stared at a screen. “Billy, he’s coming for you. Run. Get everyone in the elevator and put it on emergency stop. Stay there until he’s passed. We’ll get the monk talking,” M.O.M instructed, moving her gaze from one screen to another.

Again, Billy nodded, and disappeared from the screen.

Inside the small passage, no one spoke. There was no alarm there, so all they could hear was the distant screech, and they could only see the blinking lights on the screens.

Diana sighed and slumped her shoulders. “What are we going to do now?”

“I believe you wanted to talk to me?” said a rough voice from the portal. M.O.M rolled her eyes. How could she have forgotten to close the portal?

“Get back inside,” she told the hovering monk, who was slowly coming out of the portal. “Or we’ll put you back inside.” The threat was quite clear, but the monk didn‘t stop.

“Oh, but I like it here. The blasted noise is gone,” he whispered.

“It will stop as soon as we’re gone, and we’ll go as soon as you tell us what we want to know.” Her gaze went back to him, then bounced shortly to the siblings. They were quiet, standing defiantly behind her. “Get. Back. Inside.” The last part was almost a hiss.

For once, the Gatekeeper obeyed and retreated. M.O.M stepped inside the square, conjuring the X-Rod from her watch, and Martin and Diana followed.

The cell was simple, merely a plain square room with a few shelves which were full of ancient-looking books. Apparently, the prisoner didn’t suffer much in it, especially being the supposed guard to an entrance for eternity. The somber monk hovered in the middle of the well-lit room, waiting, glancing at the open portal.

“Not yet.” M.O.M told him. “You still have two hundred years’ confinement in this cell.”

The gatekeeper lunged for Martin, flying fast across the room. M.O.M stretched an arm out to the side and cut his path, and Martin took the chance to conjure his own X-Rod.

“You will not go free yet,” she started again, “but perhaps I can arrange for a more comfortable cell.” She lowered her arm.

“And what exactly do you mean by that?” the hovering monk asked in his raspy, old voice.

“I am offering you a deal. One name. You tell me all you know about it, and I will make sure you are transferred to a larger cell with more books and better food and perhaps even reduce your sentence.”

Martin gaped at her. Offering a deal to someone who had used the head of the Center to try to open a gate to the underworld wasn’t exactly what he had in mind for getting information out of him.

“I was hoping you’d find it in you to set me free…” the gatekeeper rasped, coming two steps closer, threateningly.

“Take it or leave it.”

It was then that he lunged for the still open portal, but, fortunately, Martin was faster. He set the net free from the Rod and captured the monk with it, smirking mockingly down at him.

“Now, while you’re in there,” M.O.M said, “you might as well listen.” She put her hands on her hips, the X-Rod vanishing into her Watch. “I am offering you this opportunity just because it’s the easiest way for me to get what I need, but if you’re not willing to cooperate, we can just as easily go back through that doorway, leave you here, forgotten, and figure this out ourselves.” She paused. “Now, what do you say?”

“You may get away with this for now, but when I’m free, you will be the first to fall, traitor.” He pulled at the net, but wasn’t able to unbind himself.

“This is simple. I give you a name, and you tell me all you know. If it’s enough, I’ll make sure you’re transferred to one of the better blocks. Lighter security, more food, books, and the likes.” The prisoner growled, but nodded all the same. M.O.M went on. “The name’s Väykn. He’s a…”

“Finnish spirit. Has been here for about three centuries… You don’t mean that salamander is what this ruckus is all about?” he half-slurred. His speech was outdated, but it didn’t hinder understanding as much as the floor against his face.

“Yes, it is, and if he were as insignificant as you say, I wouldn’t be coming to you. Go on.” M.O.M was quickly losing her patience, pacing around the cell and glancing anxiously at her watch.

“As you wish. The only way to banish him back to the underworld is concentrated sunlight. One beam would do. I would suggest you make a hole on the ceiling and use a magnifying glass. Of course, sunlight itself isn’t strong enough...” he trailed off.

“Then what is?” Diana asked, her arms crossed.

“The door to the underworld is closed,” the monk continued, ignoring Diana. “It will bounce him back to the possessed person in a straight line, so you have to wait and intercept him.”

“Answer the question. What do we use then, if not sunlight?” M.O.M pressed.

“Ah, I might trade that for my freedom.”

“No.” That she would not allow.

“Then you can leave now.”

M.O.M scowled at his words. “Then the deal is off the table.” M.O.M turned her back on him and stormed through the portal.

“As you prefer. I appreciated the conversation,” the monk called after her.

Martin and Diana walked out the cell behind her, Diana asking, “M.O.M, should we release him?”

The woman thought about it, then smirked. “No, he’ll find a way out sooner or later. That’s what he gets for not cooperating.”

When the portal closed, the alarm stopped the monotonous wail it had been emitting thus far. The trio walked along the screen-covered hall, M.O.M stopping to check some monitors. Then, somewhere in the middle between where the passage widened and the entrance, she called Billy.  
“He’s rounding the research wing. You can get out of there now,” she told him absently, missing the quiet groan from Billy and ignoring the feeling of defeat that washed over her. True, she had no idea what to do to stop Armin if she was unable to get a powerful enough weapon, but she was more than willing to try. And with the help of an old friend, she had a really good chance of success.


	11. Chapter 11

The next day, back in Torrington, M.O.M again borrowed Martin’s cell phone, which he had left in his room, and called the one who could help them. The sun was barely rising, and since it was Saturday, both Martin and Diana had plans to sleep in late--until M.O.M called through Martin’s U-Watch and asked what they were doing. Martin changed out of his pajamas gloomily. He had no idea what M.O.M was thinking; who would like to get up that early? 

Once they showed up in Martin’s room, they discovered M.O.M was already waiting for them in front of an open portal. Martin felt relieved that he had decided to change before looking for Diana. He had no qualms with walking around in his pajamas inside the school’s living quarters, but anything beyond that he was too shy to even attempt.

M.O.M beckoned them to the portal, once the door had been closed behind them. “Good morning, agents,” she greeted, a smile appearing on her face when she noticed the still sleepy faces.

“Morning?” Martin started, complaining. “I don’t see the sun. It’s not even dawn and you call this morning?” He was exaggerating, of course, but Diana fully agreed with him. Not even she, with her tight schedule, would want to wake up at this hour. She nodded weakly at his words.

“Yes, yes, it’s early,” M.O.M commented knowingly before explaining, “Forgive me, but that’s what you would expect when there’s an ongoing invasion at the Center. WOOHP’s manager is willing to help us out,” she said, pointing toward the portal and waiting for them to cross.

“WOOHP?” asked Martin, stopping in front of the portal absentmindedly, blocking his sister’s way.

“Martin,” Diana sighed and, in a tone Martin was sure to label annoying, said, “it stands for World Organization of Human Protection…”

“Precisely. The organization trades with the Center; they’re our main weapon-provider, and the manager is a friend of mine,” M.O.M said.

Martin, finally satisfied, stepped forward and crossed the portal, Diana and M.O.M following behind. They entered an office, and what an office! The steel-covered walls and shining white floors made it seem almost bare and far too impersonal as there were no pictures, no shelves… There was barely any furniture except for the orange leather couch and chair, and a desk in front of a massive screen. In a way, this was like M.O.M’s office. Impeccable, impersonal, formal… Empty, even.

As Diana and Martin marveled at the room, M.O.M snickered, her arms crossed. “Notice how clean this place is,” She instructed, grinning. “Jerry suffers from Mysophobia.” She smiled widely. Martin had barely opened his mouth to ask before she added, “Fear of germs.”

“A guy like this couldn’t run the Center, I imagine,” commented Diana.

M.O.M turned to look at her. “He was offered the position, actually, but turned it down.”

A metal plate separated from the wall and slid to one side, capturing the attention of all those present.

A middle-aged man was standing there, clad in a blue suit. He looked at them, surprised for a moment, and then smiled. “Well, look who’s here!” He walked over to M.O.M, saying the words with a British accent faded by the years. “It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?”

“It certainly has,” M.O.M replied, hugging the man fondly. She turned him around by the shoulder. “These,” she told him, “are Martin and Diana.”

“My name is Jerry,” he said, extending a hand for them to shake. He looked at the three Center agents before asking pleasantly, “May I interest you in a cup of tea?”

M.O.M smiled before answering, “Not today, thank you. We just have a little time. The Center is under… I guess you could call it an unsuccessful siege.”

Jerry whispered, “Oh, no!” He then looked down at M.O.M’s clothes, which were still very much the same Martin and Diana had found her in--dirt and bloodstains included. “And what happened to you?” he gasped, trying to lead M.O.M to the couch.

“Nothing.” That was a story for some other time, when they weren’t in a rush to stop Armin. “Anyway, we need WOOHP’s weapons, as always.” Jerry let it be, and then M.O.M looked at him, a smile on her face. “And if you could do me a small favor…”

“Of course,” Jerry cut in. “What is it?”

“Diana and Martin,” the siblings turned at the sound of their names, “have helped me a lot these past few days. Could they take a little curiosity with them, as my thanks?”

Martin beamed and thanked M.O.M, jumping up and down in excitement. Diana just smiled. Jerry, meanwhile, walked to a keypad to type a code, and another panel on the wall separated. Martin looked at M.O.M questioningly. She nodded with a smile, and both siblings went into the room.

“Choose one item!” M.O.M called after them. Then, she turned to Jerry. “Can you open the armory up for us?” Her face became more serious; the smile that had up to now been plastered on her face disappeared, and her eyes remained glued to the floor.

“So this is perhaps more serious that you yourself are willing to accept?” Jerry commented, typing another code.

M.O.M glared at him. “I don’t need a mental evaluation. I need weapons able to banish a werewolf spirit, and I need them quickly!”

She was really desperate, he could see, and so, with a beckoning gesture, he hurried through the newly opened door. “You know, you’re going to have to tell me about this,” Jerry said cautiously, hoping not to upset M.O.M any further.

“I do.” She sighed. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped.”

She wanted to keep a calm face for both Diana and Martin. She was supposed to be the cold-headed one here, but right now she was just unable to act like it. This was too much. She’d gone through being stabbed to paralyzed, from putting her agents at risk to the Center being under the constant surveillance of the one to blame for all of that, not to mention he used to be her friend. There was enough pressure upon her shoulders to break her strong façade.

The room they entered was lined with endless shelves that went from the floor to the ceiling, all filled with various artifacts. Jerry turned to ask M.O.M what exactly she was looking for and found her looking at the ceiling absently and leaning her back against one of the shelves. She sighed, and he neared her.

“It will be all right,” he stated, awkwardly and uncertainly.

“That’s just it,” she said, not tearing her gaze from the ceiling just yet. “You don’t know that, and neither do I.”

“True. But I trust it will, and I trust you. That is enough.” He ventured a smile in her direction. “Now, let me do the only thing I can to help you. What kind of device are you after?”

Perhaps he was right. Believing everything would turn out all right was better than thinking negatively. And so, M.O.M smiled back. Jerry knew nothing, really, but him saying he trusted her relieved her of many of her burdens, taking the weight and pressure off her back.

“Thank you,” she told him earnestly and pushed off the wall to stand beside him. “You see, for this I need to tell you what the Gatekeeper said.”

“You went to him?” Jerry asked in disbelief.

“I did, and he was kind enough to tell us that what we need is sunlight, concentrated in a beam, to send the spirit back into the Gateway. But here comes the problem…”

“It’s closed.”

“Exactly. The spirit will bounce back, and we need a way to stop it before it picks another host,” M.O.M finished.

“And I assume that would be either the former one, you, Martin or Diana?” He started to walk to a far shelf on his right. “How troublesome.”

M.O.M scoffed. “I agree.”

Jerry handed her something that looked like a rifle, and told her, “This shoots concentrated light. With a few adjustments, you will have a beam of sunlight. The modifications are fairly easy. You’ll take three, am I right?”

“Four,” M.O.M answered, following Jerry down a hall to get the tools required to modify the rifles. “Billy needs one as well. Any ideas for something to stop the spirit with?” she asked.

“Well, I have a freezing liquid I’m sure could work, and a very resistant Plexiglas cage, to add.”

“That would do. Yes, please,” M.O.M said, and then asked, looking down at her clothes, “And do you by any chance have a spare uniform?”

Jerry nodded, and she followed him through some more hallways, but when they got to the uniform rack, she grimaced. The WHOOP signature outfit, the skintight suit Jerry’s agents used, was arranged by colors. Jerry was about to hand one of the white ones to M.O.M when she cleared her throat.

“Anything more… ” She trailed off, looking for an adjective that would not offend him, as there was no way she would wear one of those.

“Center-like?” he finished for her while walking a couple of steps to the left to come to a piece of the wall lined with drawers. He opened one to get her a uniform pretty much like the one she was currently wearing, sans stains and with the WOOHP logo instead of the Center’s.

She thanked Jerry just as a Martin called from the door. “M.O.M? Where are you?”

She stepped around the shelf to the hallway directly across from the door. “Here. Come, we’re almost done,” she told the siblings, who followed Jerry and M.O.M through a few other hallways, where Jerry picked up two of the freezing liquid containers and a Plexiglas cage, and the rest of what he needed to modify the rifles.

Jerry then led them back to his office, where he started working on the rifles while M.O.M examined the rest of the artifacts, including those Martin and Diana had picked to take with them. There were the small freezing bubbles, which would supposedly release liquid after two seconds of activation; the Plexiglas sheet, made to unfold into a big square cage; an alien clock, formed into a transparent crystal cube, which Diana had picked and promised to learn how to read it; and lastly, a small but very potent laser pointer that’s light changed color every few seconds that Martin had picked.

 

M.O.M pocketed her items and returned the laser and clock to Martin and Diana, then walked over to watch Jerry finish the last of the rifles. Their appearance hadn’t changed significantly after Jerry’s modifications; the nozzle was wider and the barrel was made of a lighter metal, but that was it.

“So,” Jerry stated, “our business here is concluded.” He smiled courteously. “Do you need transportation back to… Wherever you were?”

M.O.M smiled and nodded. “Torrington High School. I’ll set the parameters, and thank you.” She stepped next to Jerry behind the desk and typed in Martin’s room and the floor it was in. Then she returned to Martin and Diana and waved to Jerry as the familiar noise of a vacuum started above them.


	12. Chapter 12

Martin stumbled into his room and turned around just in time to catch his sister, who fell out of thin air just as he had.

“What was that?” he asked, surprised. Never before had he been vacuumed out of a room; the prospect itself was enough to get his mind reeling. Were there pipes leading to virtually everywhere?

“It’s WOOHP’s equivalent to the portals,” M.O.M answered, having landed on her feet thanks to years of practice. She then laid the multiple contraptions Jerry had given her on the desk and headed to the bathroom to change into the new uniform.

Martin turned on the stereo and tapped a foot to the beat while lying on the top bed. Diana leafed through one of Martin’s books, one she’d given him and that, by the look of things, had yet to be read.

“Let’s go,” M.O.M said, coming out of the bathroom and already calling Billy. It took him unusually long to answer, and she was about to call again, when he finally picked up.

“Billy, gather everybody and tell them to hide. Then head to my office and meet us in the elevator. I assume Armin’s there already,” she said quickly, exchanging only a couple more sentences with Billy before hanging up and creating a portal.

Before crossing, though, she turned to look at the siblings, who had both followed her to the blue square. “Here it is,” she started, looking first at Diana, then Martin, “plain and simple. This will be dangerous.”

“We know,” replied Martin, interrupting.

M.O.M just nodded. “And, given the circumstances and previous history, you have the right to stay out of it.”

Diana let out an unlikely chuckle, and her grin was a mirror image of Martin’s.

“You aren’t going to get rid of us that easily,” he commented finally, intending to lighten the mood just like Diana.

M.O.M granted them a small smile, and Diana added, “Of course we’re coming.”

“Thank you,” was the reply, and M.O.M handed each one a rifle, carrying Billy’s, and held on to the Plexiglas cage and freezing capsules in her pockets. She crossed into the portal.

The Center was a disaster, and while Billy had been nice enough to downplay it, now it came as an even bigger surprise. Again, they had appeared in the surveillance room, and on every screen, the walls were torn down and scarred with laser burns. Pieces of the ceiling were on the ground, and some lights were out. M.O.M finally stopped in front of a screen and glared at it for a while before wordlessly moving on along the narrow hallway. This time, they followed it to the end, where there was a small door. M.O.M opened it carefully and hurried to the elevator. After sharing a quick glance, Martin and Diana followed.

There was no hovering alien to be seen. Martin looked around for their friend and asked the obvious. “Where’s Billy?”

“He had more than enough time to get here,” M.O.M mused.  
Diana gasped after finally glancing down just as the elevator doors slid shut. She’d found Billy, tied and gagged, on the floor. Immediately, she knelt down and untied him.

Once he finally removed his own gag, the first question came from M.O.M. “What happened?” she asked after handing him the rifle.

He looked at it, nodded in appreciation, and took a deep breath to reply. “Do you remember I told you we still had a loose monster?” he asked M.O.M, who nodded. “It’s the shape-shifter.”

She sighed, looking up as if asking for patience from the heavens, and then looked back at the small alien. “But you’re okay,” she stated, finally pushing the button on the elevator. As it started to make its way up to her office, she asked, “What cell block was the shape-shifter in?” She still had to plan who would be responsible for catching him, which depended, partly, on the danger it posed. The levels were stated in the cellblock they were contained in. The Gatekeeper, for example, was one of the most dangerous and therefore had a cell in Block E.

“C,” Billy replied, rubbing his wrists to get the blood to flow back into them. She sighed in relief; they could handle him easily. 

The door to the elevator opened, leaving them in front of the purple doors leading to M.O.M’s office. She steeled herself and took a hesitant step forward. Before opening the doors, though, she explained the plan in more detail.

She closed her eyes briefly before typing in the code that would unlock the office and apprehensively watched the doors slide to the sides. The lights were on and everything seemed to be in its usual spot, as if Armin hadn’t touched anything. The only thing that betrayed his presence was the chuckle that followed the closing doors.

“Finally,” he started. “I thought you’d never get here.” He was leaning against the wall and was met with four lasers pointed to his head. He chuckled again, taking one step in their direction. “You wound me deeply,” he said in mock hurt, and cackled. “I expected a warmer welcome. What do you say I show you how it’s done?” 

“Careful,” warned M.O.M as Armin started to groan and change. He grew at least fifteen centimeters, and hair appeared on his arms and head until finally he looked down at them as a half-transformed werewolf. With an animalistic grin, he leaped forward at Martin, who stepped to the side, leaving Armin to land on the desk.

“What’s wrong with your hair, kid?” he asked with a raspy voice, tilting his head at Martin, who had turned around. “Gravity not working?”

Martin, having had enough, asked M.O.M, “Now?”

She nodded, and the four of them began to power up the rifles, taking aim as best as they could, as Armin took to leaping across the room and occasionally lunging for one of them. There was a screech as sharp claws dragged along the metal of Billy’s hovering chair, leaving deep scores across its surface, and shortly after, there was a scream from Diana, who had to duck down to keep her head.

Martin fired, enraged and snarling after the threat to Diana, but the shot missed and hit the painting behind M.O.M’s desk, leaving the glass blackened with soot.

“Chat’s over, huh?” asked Armin, and his voice turned into a howl as he finished the transformation. He snarled, showing a snout full of pointy fangs. He crouched down and opted to walk on all fours to circle around them.

“I don’t like this,” said Billy, following Armin with his gaze before taking aim with the rifle.

“Me neither,” agreed Diana, also aiming at the monster.

Billy fired, almost certain that he would hit his target. However, Armin quickly sidestepped and avoided the laserball.

“End it, then,” commanded M.O.M before taking aim at the wolf’s hind leg. She exchanged a glance with Martin, who nodded reassuringly, and fired.

Armin leapt forward just in time to dodge M.O.M’s laser but was wounded anyway, courtesy of Martin’s shot. The werewolf yelped in pain and stopped moving, keeping his wounded paw off the floor, and snarled at Martin ferociously.

Billy pointed the nozzle of his rifle to the wolf’s head, daring to hover away from M.O.M, Martin and Diana. Armin howled, and suddenly Billy was sent crashing against the wall. The shock wave hurled Martin headfirst against the desk, Diana to the hard floor, and M.O.M against one of the bookshelves. When M.O.M lifted her head, she found the source of the quake in both ends of the room: a wormhole, connecting one wall to the other.

She clenched her teeth against the rising pain from her arm and looked for Armin. Billy stood up, lamenting the loss of his hovercraft, but instead activated his human shell and picked up the rifle.

“Are you okay?” he asked M.O.M, leaning over Diana.

“Relatively,” she answered before helping Martin stand.

He fell back to the floor almost immediately, clutching at his leg and wincing. “Broken,” he muttered, “I think.” M.O.M grimaced in sympathy.

Billy walked closer, Diana behind him. They had little time to collect themselves before Armin appeared out of one of the walls. The only indication there was of a wormhole was a slight ripple in the air. Armin neared M.O.M, growling quietly. She readied the rifle again, and Armin took a step back.

“Diana,” M.O.M called, and the girl fired a blast which burned the floor before the wolf, making him retreat a couple of steps. He looked to the side and then met eyes with M.O.M’s.

“No,” M.O.M whispered as he leaped towards a wide-eyed Martin. “Billy!” she yelled, and aimed. The two of them fired together, and she closed her eyes, not daring to see whether Armin had reached Martin or not.

There was a whimper, and the wolf landed hard, sliding along the floor and away from Martin because of the terrible force of the blasts. He started to disintegrate into red, glowing particles that formed into a floating ball of light just above Armin’s unmoving body. The spirit. The floating light, as if pulled by a magnet, zoomed away through the walls to return to the Gateway, just as they had predicted. 

M.O.M let out a sigh of relief and placed the rifle on the desk before holding her wrist with her other hand. She ignored the throbbing in it and turned towards Martin. “Are you all right?” she asked. He swallowed hard and nodded, his eyes still wide open. “Billy,” she continued, “can you hand Martin an icepack for his leg?”

“Sure,” he answered and went to try to get them from the remains of his hovering chair.

M.O.M fished in her pocket for the freezing bubbles and cage and wordlessly handed one to Billy, who in turn gave her an icepack before handing the other three to Martin. She smiled at the alien and activated the pack before holding it to her wrist.

“He should be back soon,” commented M.O.M, and she crossed the room to stand in the corner opposite to where the others were. “Billy, you know what to do, right?”

“Yes,” replied the alien.

She put the icepack away and waited.

It wasn’t long before a red haze formed and the spirit reappeared. It was not, however, where she had expected, and by the time she and Billy had turned toward the rising, again-possessed Armin, he had already swung an arm at Diana. The teen ducked with a yelp of surprise and retreated a few steps. A punch collided with her shoulder, sending her to the floor. She crawled back, looking away only when Martin called her.

He threw her a small object, and when she caught it and opened her hand, she smiled. She was holding Martin’s compact laser pointer. With no time to waste, she pointed it directly at Armin’s eyes, likely burning his retina and causing the haze to rise from him again. He lunged at Diana and hurled her against the wall. She hit her head and was knocked out cold. Martin chose that moment to fire his rifle, and Billy threw the freezing bubble to the ball of light hovering over Armin’s head. Without the spirit to act as puppeteer, Armin again fell.

M.O.M took a deep breath and threw the cage towards the frozen spirit. In midair, the Plexiglas unfolded and wrapped around Väykn. M.O.M sighed in relief and whispered disbelieving, “We did it.”

Billy went to the computer and sent word to the other agents to come out of hiding and to send a medical team to M.O.M’s office. Martin dragged himself to a still unconscious Diana and shook her shoulder, trying to get her to wake up.

M.O.M approached him and got him to stand.  
“You think Diana’s all right?” he asked her with childish concern, using her for support as he let the doctors take his sister away.

“I’m sure she’ll be fine,” M.O.M reassured him as they slowly moved to the elevator and waited for it. Martin had an arm over her shoulders and was limping, and she again held her wrist in her good hand. The throbbing had intensified, and without the adrenaline running through her, her hand was stiffening, resulting in more pain, which she ignored in favor of getting Martin to the medical wing, which was just starting to function again.

“Here,” Martin told her, handing her one of the two icepacks he held in his free hand. She smiled and thanked him, feeling the cold soothe the burning muscle.


	13. Epilogue

M.O.M had stood by Martin while his leg was put in a cast, and had frowned when she had been diagnosed a sprained wrist and handed a splint, but had put it on nonetheless. She didn’t want to listen to Diana telling her to put it on once the girl woke up. 

Both she and Martin turned their heads at the sound of the elevator doors opening on the bottom floor. The medical station had been located there out of convenience, and now everybody watched as both Väykn and Armin were escorted, the first in the Plexiglas cage and the second in cuffs, to the cell blocks. Billy was at the front of the procession and as they walked slowly towards the entrance to the basement, M.O.M could not help but stare and scratch anxiously at the itching splint, if just to have something to do with her hands. 

When the agents finally emerged from the cell blocks in the basement, she called for Billy, taking a few steps away from Martin, who was entertaining himself with talking to the female attendants. 

She looked towards the door to the basement before asking, “What cell block is… are… they in?” she assumed they been placed in the same one, as was custom, although she couldn’t help but think that, without the spirit, Armin was harmless. She was biased, though, and unable to be objective on this matter, and so what she said would matter little in the eyes of the computer that controlled the Center, CORE. 

“They’re in D,” came the answer from the little alien. She sighed. 

“It’s over,” Billy told her reassuringly. She smiled, knowing he wanted to cheer her up, but there was still something else to do. No, her obligations never seemed to end. She tiredly pinched the bridge of her nose in her good hand.

“I still have to find a team to take care of the shapeshifter, one to get a headcount, and one to start with the urgent repairs,” she commented. 

“Urgent repairs?” he chorused. She simply pointed up. A few power lines were hanging down, severed. Whatever they led to couldn’t run on emergency power forever and, while she hadn’t exactly traced their origin, she was quite sure one was supposed to feed the database, and at least another connected to the greenhouse. 

Billy nodded, understanding, and then commented, “Why don’t you let me take care of it?”

She sighed and thanked him, lifting her good wrist and looking at the message written across the screen of her watch in flashing blue lights. With a light smile, she turned to Martin. 

“Quick, get up,” she told him, pulling him by the hand and swinging his arm across her shoulders at the lack of crutches. 

“Where are we going?” he asked, limping and taking extra care not to let the not-yet-dry cast touch the ground. 

She smirked. They turned a corner, entering the cubicle blocks.

“Diana’s awake,” she said as explanation, painting a smile on the teen’s lips. He let out a sigh of relief. 

The cubicles had been turned into makeshift rooms, with slim mattresses on the wide desks, and sheets for curtains hung across the doors. Three of those sheets she pushed aside, finding first an alien with a wounded arm, then an unconscious human and finally, Diana. She greeted them with a smile, waving them in and then sitting up and rubbing her head with a slight wince. 

“You okay?” Martin asked, concerned, and tried to take a step towards his sister, forgetting M.O.M was mostly holding him up. 

“Sorry,” he said after remembering because of the pull on his arm. M.O.M dismissed his apology with a shake of her head, and he turned back to Diana. 

“Yeah,” she answered, “sore but fine.”

“I’m glad,” Martin replied and went to sit on the bed, looking at M.O.M so she’d know to let him go. He hopped to the mattress and sat down. 

“You?” Diana asked in return, finally taking in the bright green, extra-hard cast. M.O.M didn’t know what had possessed him to ask for the colors, but at the choices, he immediately chose green. “Like slime,” had been his only explanation. 

“Yup,” he lifted up his leg, “Do you think Jenny will help me recover?” he mused, looking at Diana in hopes she said yes. The girl just scoffed and rolled her eyes. 

Catching sight of her boss’ wrist, she asked, “M.O.M?” 

“Fine,” answered the woman, “sprained wrist,” she elaborated. Diana nodded, and turned back to her brother, who was handing her a marker to be the first to sign his cast. M.O.M smiled and left the cubicle. 

It took only a couple of hours for Armin to request talking to her, but she waited a couple of days until finally deciding to pay him a visit. 

She took a deep breath and stepped into the elevator to the basement and pushing the button that would take her to the D Block. The doors opened, and she walked for a couple of hallways, used to the hatred, groans and glares from nearly all the trapped creatures. On the way, she straightened her back and steeled herself before finally appearing before Armin. 

“Hey,” he greeted meekly. M.O.M looked down at him and gave no reply. He let out a sigh and looked at the wall. 

“I had no choice,” he started, but M.O.M interrupted. 

“I don’t care.”

There was silence for a while at the two former friends stared at each other. 

“So,” Armin spoke again, “how long are you going to keep me here?”

“Two years,” was the cold reply,” before you’re moved to the upper blocks.”

His eyes turned back to the wall, half-despaired. M.O.M’s resolve was fading. This man was no less her friend than when they had last talked before the possession. She shook her head; she couldn’t do it, she couldn’t judge him in any way. Not when he was in this form. The wolf was murderous, and her hatred for it was instinct more than it was reason. His human form, however… 

She sighed, “How are you taking it?” she asked finally, praying she was not playing right into his trap to get a time reduction. 

He shrugged, “Although that wise guy over there,” he pointed at the cell in front of him, which contained a man who had been caught and punished for summoning demons, “glares at me, he lets me copy the daily Sudoku.”

M.O.M smiled unconsciously. Noticing this change, he took the chance. 

“It’s no fun when the Djinni starts forming the answers in green fog,” he pointed two cells to the left of the one in front of him, smirking. 

M.O.M couldn’t avoid but roll her eyes. Her eyes widened at the realization; the ice she’d encased her heart in was melting. She walked out of there, deciding not to let him get to her again. As her heels echoed in the hallways, Armin smiled sadly.


End file.
